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The African elephant is undoubtedly the most magnificent and awe-inspiring land animal on earth, embodying the very essence and wonder of the wilderness. To celebrate these majestic creatures, Daryl and Sharna Balfour embarked on a four-year quest across the African continent to record and portray elephants in unspoiled places.

This collection of zoo of their extraordinary photographs reveals the fascinating lives of elephants as never before -- their individual behavior and intriguing social relationships, as well as the enormous influence they exert on their diverse habitats. While taking these pictures, Daryl Balfour experienced a near-fatal encounter with an elephant and he describes the gripping story of this adventure, which, despite his personal ordeal, did not diminish his admiration and feelings of kinship for elephants. The narrative and captions offer more details and lore about the private lives of these singular animals.

The forewords included in this book represent a range of current views concerning the intense debate about the elephant's survival and the complex issues relating to the struggle between people, wildlife, and the environment. Among the contributors are Iain Douglas-Hamilton, one of the foremost authorities on the African elephants, and Daphne Sheldrick, who has raised orphaned baby elephants in Kenya and developed an astonishing understanding of them.